Classical theatre - tuồng (hát bội)
An embryonic form of the classical Vietnamese theatre
hát tuồng or
hát bội (sometimes known in the south as
hát bộ) was already in existence in 1285 when one Lý Nguyên Cát, a performer of the early Chinese opera genre
zaju, was captured and brought to the Đại Việt court at Thăng Long (Hà Nội). Subsequently Cát is known to have introduced some of the techniques of
zaju to performers at the Đại Việt court, thereby assisting in the further development of
tuồng as a courtly entertainment. '
Southern songs' from the Hindu kingdom of Champa (subjugated by the Việts in the 14th century) were later introduced into the early tuồng repertoire.After a period of development under the patronage of the Trần kings, tuồng was banished altogether from the court of Đại Việt during the reign of King Lê Thánh Tông (1460-1497), whose Hồng Đức law code effectively ostracised members of the theatrical profession, forbidding public officials from marrying into theatrical families and banning theatre artists from taking the government examinations which might open the way to appointments in the service of the state.
This government policy remained effective at the Trịnh-dominated court of Đại Việt throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, obliging a talented member of a northern
tuồng family known as Đào Duy Từ (1572-1634) to move south to Phú Xuân (Huế) in order to pursue a career in the service of the rival Nguyễn lords. It was Từ who introduced the art of
tuồng to an enthusiastic Nguyễn court and subsequently set about popularising the genre throughout the central and south-central provinces, which remain to this day a bastion of traditional stage arts.
King Quang Trung (1788-1792) and several of his generals are known to have been avid performers of tuồng for some time prior to his ascendancy to the throne. It is also noteworthy that the contemporaneous chữ nôm epic Truyện Sãi Vãi, written by Nguyễn Cư Trinh, was composed in the nói lối style typical of tuồng. Though revised extensively at a later stage, the three classic tuồng plays Sơn Hậu, Tam nữ đồ vương and Dương chấn tử are believed to have originated during this period. An illustration in J Barrow's A Voyage to Cochinchina in the years 1792 and 1793 (London, 1806) suggests that by this time tuồng was performed using make-up and stage costumes, but in the open air rather than on a stage and with no seats for the audience.
The art of
tuồng underwent significant development under the Nguyễn kings. Sinitic influence was reinforced during the reign of Minh Mạng (1820-1841), who set up a special court agency to deal with artistic matters and personally commissioned actors from Guangzhou to rework the genre, introducing in the process many of the gestures, costumes and make-up conventions of Cantonese Opera. During this period several high-ranking mandarins and members of the royal family set up their own
tuồng troupes and new performing troupes were also established in the provinces.
The art form reached its peak under King Từ Đức (1847-1883), who introduced a generous system of patronage for performers and also ordered the construction of two dedicated royal theatres, the
Duyệt Thi Dường Royal Theatre within the grounds of Huế Citadel and the
Minh Kiêm Đường Royal Theatre at his tomb just west of the city, which the king used during his lifetime as a second palace.
The creative development of
tuồng during this period owed much to the work of provincial mandarin, poet, playwright, stage director and
tuồng theorist Đào Tấn (1845-1907), often referred to as the 'Founding Father' (
Hậu Tổ) of the art of
tuồng. Đào Tấn is known to have written or revised over 40
tuồng plays, including
Diễn vũ dinh,
Tam mã đồ vương,
Trầm hương các,
Hoàng Phi Hổ quá giới bài quan,
Hộ sinh đàn and
Hồ sanh đường, all of which are still performed by
tuồng troupes today. He is also credited with popularising the art of
tuồng amongst the common people by organising regular public performances throughout the central provinces of Quảng Nam, Quảng Ngãi, Phú Yên and Bình Định. In recognition of Đào Tấn's deep and persuasive influence on the art of
tuồng, one of the country's leading performing troupes -
Đào Tấn Tuồng Theatre (
Nhà hát Tuồng Đào Tấn) of Quy Nhơn - now bears his name.
Another important
tuồng practitioner of this period was Nguyễn Hiển Dĩnh (1853-1926), whose name has also been adopted by a leading
tuồng troupe, the
Nguyễn Hiển Dĩnh Tuồng Theatre (
Nhà hát Tuồng Nguyễn Hiển Dĩnh) of Đà Nẵng. Dĩnh wrote both comedies and tragedies, his best-known works being
Trương Đồ Nhục,
Võ Hùng Vương,
Lý Ân Lang Châu and
Lương Quốc Trá Hôn.
Though not as influential as Đào Tấn and Nguyễn Hiển Dĩnh, playwrights Nguyễn Bá Nghi, Nguyễn Gia Ngoạn, Bùi Hữu Nghĩa, Nguyễn Đình Chiêm, Nguyễn Diêu, Phan Bội Châu and Nguyễn Hữu Tiến also made important contributions to the development of the art of tuồng during the late 19th century.
During the later years of the French colonial period the royal court at Huế became steadily more westernised, with the consequence that, like the royal music and dance, tuồng was performed less and less frequently for the king. At the same time, in the face of growing competition from cải lương (see below), the genre's popularity amongst the common people also began to wane.
After 1945 leading
tuồng troupes remained active in Quy Nhơn, Đà Nẵng and Sài Gòn, but audiences continued to defect in large numbers to
cải lương. In the north the genre's associations with royalty and Confucian ethics, siniticised dialogue and frequent Chinese literary references initially hindered its development under the new Communist regime. However, in 1959 the National Tuồng Theatre (
Nhà hát Tuồng Trung Ương, now the
Việt Nam Tuồng Theatre) was established to redevelop the art in line with Party policies, to give performances and to co-ordinate research and training at the newly-established Việt Nam School of Stage Arts (
Trường Nghệ thuật Sân khấu Việt Nam, now the Hà Nội Academy of Theatre and Cinema).
Since that time tuồng has been promoted by the government as an important intangible heritage and today it is still taught at the Hà Nội University of Theatre and Cinema as part of that institution's Traditional Theatre programme. Since the 1950s many of the older texts have been revised and performance techniques modified in order to correspond more closely with socialist ideology, whilst at the same time a plethora of new tuồng plays have been written, the great majority of them focusing on the struggle for national independence and reunification.The repertoire of tuồng is generally classified into tuồng chính (a more academic style which includes various types of tuồng performed at court) and tuồng đồ (folk tuồng, a more comic style which often criticises corrupt officialdom). Distinct differences also exist between the performance styles of the north, centre and south.
As performed today,
tuồng shares many of the conventions of Chinese opera, including simplicity of staging and corresponding emphasis on stylised gesture and mime to convey actions or emotions, character types and the use of colour symbolism (albeit slightly different than its Chinese counterpart) in respect of 'painted face' characters. However, the distinctively Vietnamese style of performance is very different from that of Chinese opera, as are its use of women to play female roles, its songs and the distinctive Vietnamese sentiments of many of the scripts. Lines are both recited and sung in rhyming couplets, following the ancient sung storytelling technique known as
nói lối. The accompanying instrumental ensemble is dominated by the
đàn nhị (two-stringed fiddle) and percussion.
Despite these efforts, at the time of writing less than 10 professional